Information acquisition method, wireless communication device, electronic timepiece and recording medium

ABSTRACT

There is provided an information acquisition method of a wireless communication device including a receiver configured to perform wireless communication with another wireless communication device to acquire information. The information acquisition method includes acquiring operation time information indicative of time at which the other wireless communication device receives an information acquisition instruction by an operation, acquiring position information indicative of a user position at time based on the acquired operation time information, and acquiring map information for indicating, on a map, the acquired position information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese Patent Application No. 2017-036054, filed on Feb. 28, 2017, theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to an information acquisition method, awireless communication device, an electronic timepiece and a recordingmedium.

In recent years, there has been known a portable wireless communicationdevice configured to receive and display map information for indicatinga current position on a map. Also, there has been known an electronictimepiece configured to receive a radio wave from a satellite and toacquire position information indicative of a current position so as tocorrect a time measured in the own device.

For example, JP-A-2013-50341 discloses a wristwatch-type electronictimepiece configured to correct internal time information based on asatellite signal transmitted from a satellite. When a button fordisplaying position information is pushed, the electronic timepiecedisplays, as position information indicative of a current position,latitude and longitude, which are calculated based on the satellitesignal transmitted from the satellite, by a pointer rotatable on a dialplate.

According to the electronic timepiece of JP-A-2013-50341, a user canknow the latitude and longitude as the position information indicativeof the current position by pushing the button of the electronictimepiece. However, even when the user operates the electronictimepiece, map information, with which the position information isindicated on a map, cannot be obtained.

In the meantime, according to a portable wireless communication device,map information for indicating a current position on a map can beacquired and displayed. However, the wireless communication terminalhaving such a function is larger than a wristwatch-type electronictimepiece, and it is complex to operate it.

For example, when a user takes out the wireless communication device andperforms an operation of acquiring the map information, more action andtime are required, so that the operability is low.

SUMMARY

An information acquisition method, a wireless communication device, anelectronic timepiece and a recording medium are disclosed.

According to an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, thereis provided an information acquisition method of a wirelesscommunication device including a receiver configured to perform wirelesscommunication with another wireless communication device to acquireinformation. The information acquisition method includes an operationtime information acquisition step of acquiring operation timeinformation indicative of time at which the other wireless communicationdevice receives an information acquisition instruction by an operation,a position information acquisition step of acquiring positioninformation indicative of a user position at time based on the operationtime information acquired in the operation time information acquisitionstep, and a map information acquisition step of acquiring mapinformation for indicating, on a map, the position information acquiredin the position information acquisition step.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects of the present invention will become moreapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofexemplary embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction withthe attached drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a using manner of a communication system according toa first illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of asmart phone according to the first illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of anelectronic timepiece according to the first illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual view for illustrating a relation between arestriction area and a determination target area according to the firstillustrative embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of information acquisitionprocessing which is executed by the smart phone and the electronictimepiece according to the first illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of an image which is displayed as mapinformation by the smart phone according to the first illustrativeembodiment.

FIG. 6B illustrates an example of an image which is displayed as the mapinformation by the smart phone according to the first illustrativeembodiment.

FIG. 6C illustrates an example of an image which is displayed as the mapinformation by the smart phone according to the first illustrativeembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating an example of an image which is displayedas movement history information by the smart phone according to thefirst illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of asmart phone according to a second illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of anelectronic timepiece according to the second illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of point list generationprocessing which is executed by the smart phone according to the secondillustrative embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of informationacquisition processing which is executed by the smart phone and theelectronic timepiece according to the second illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of asmart phone according to a third illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of anelectronic timepiece according to the third illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the informationacquisition processing which is executed by the smart phone and theelectronic timepiece according to the third illustrative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, illustrative embodiments will be described with referenceto the drawings.

In a first illustrative embodiment, map information is immediatelyacquired when a proximity operation is performed to an electronictimepiece. In a second illustrative embodiment, a plurality of times atwhich a proximity operation is performed to the electronic timepiece arestored and a smart phone receives the plurality of times and acquiresmap information corresponding to each time. In a third illustrativeembodiment, the electronic timepiece receives a satellite radio wave andhas various sensors. Meanwhile, in the description below, it is assumedthat the smart phone and the electronic timepiece have been alreadypaired (mutually authenticated).

First Illustrative Embodiment

As shown in FIG. 1, a communication system 1 according to a firstillustrative embodiment of the present disclosure includes a smart phone100 which is a wireless communication device, and an electronictimepiece 200 which is a wireless communication device different fromthe smart phone 100.

The smart phone 100 and the electronic timepiece 200 are configured toperform near-field wireless communication based on Bluetooth (registeredtrademark) Low Energy (hereinafter, referred to as ‘BLE’). The BLE is astandard (mode) designed for low power consumption in a near-fieldwireless communication standard referred to as Bluetooth.

The smart phone 100 is configured to operate as a central for receivingan advertise packet based on the BLE. The electronic timepiece 200 isconfigured to operate as a peripheral for transmitting an advertisementbased on the BLE. During wireless communication after connection isestablished between the smart phone 100 and the electronic timepiece200, the smart phone 100 operates as a master, and the electronictimepiece 200 operates as a slave.

The smart phone 100 is configured to receive a radio wave from asatellite 40. The satellite 40 is a satellite which is used forpositioning in a Global Positioning System (GPS), a Global NavigationSatellite System (GLONASS) and the like, for example.

The smart phone 100 is configured to perform communication with otherdevices connected to a World Area Network (WAN) 50, via a relay device,an access point and the like (not shown). The other devices include aplurality of Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers 10 configured toprovide time information, a Network Time Protocol-Pool (NTP pool) server20, a location server 30 configured to provide information indicative ofa position (latitude and longitude) of a communication terminal, and amap information distribution server 60 configured to provide mapinformation.

The NTP pool server 20 is configured to receive an access from acommunication terminal and to specify a position of the communicationterminal by referring to a position database for an Internet Protocol(IP) of the communication terminal. The NTP pool server 20 is configuredto allot NTP server(s) 10, which correspond to the position of thecommunication terminal, of the plurality of NTP servers 10. In general,a plurality of (for example four) NTP servers 10 are allotted. Thecommunication terminal is configured to receive NTP packets from theallotted NTP servers 10 to acquire time.

Herein, in the first illustrative embodiment, a reference of “time” isUniversal Time Coordinated (UTC) time. However, the reference of “time”is not limited to the UTC time and may be information indicative ofstandard time or any information which can be a reference of time. Forexample, the reference of “time” may be Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) time.In the first illustrative embodiment, “time” includes not only hour andminute but also date.

Subsequently, a configuration of the smart phone 100 according to thefirst illustrative embodiment is described. As shown in FIG. 2, thesmart phone 100 includes a communication device 190 and a display unit170. The communication device 190 includes a communication unit 110 (afirst receiver), a near-field wireless communication unit 120 (a secondreceiver), a satellite radio wave receiving unit 130 (a third receiver),a Random Access Memory (RAM) 140, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 150, anoperation unit 160 and a processor 180. The constitutional elements ofthe communication device 190 and the display unit 170 are connected toeach other via a bus line BL.

The communication unit 110 includes a Radio Frequency (RF) circuit, aBase Band (BB) circuit, an Large Scale Integration (LSI) and the like,for example. The communication unit 110 is configured to performwireless communication with a relay device, an access point and the likevia an antenna 111. The communication unit 110 is connected to the WAN50 via the relay device, the access point and the like, and isconfigured to perform communication with the NTP servers 10, the NTPpool server 20, the location server 30 and the map informationdistribution server 60. In the meantime, the communication unit 110 maybe connected to the WAN 50 and configured to perform communication withthe other devices through wired communication, rather than theconfiguration of performing wireless communication with the relaydevice, the access point and the like via the antenna 111.

The near-field wireless communication unit 120 includes a radiofrequency circuit, a base band circuit, an LSI and the like, forexample. The near-field wireless communication unit 120 is configured totransmit and receive a signal via an antenna 121 and to perform wirelesscommunication with the electronic timepiece 200, which is the otherwireless communication device, based on the BLE.

The satellite radio wave receiving unit 130 includes a radio frequencycircuit, a base band circuit, an LSI and the like, for example. Thesatellite radio wave receiving unit 130 is configured to receive a radiowave from the satellite 40 via an antenna 131.

The RAM 140 includes a volatile memory and is used as a work area fortemporarily storing therein data so as for the processor 180 to executea variety of processing.

The ROM 150 includes a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory andstores therein programs (for example, programs for implementinginformation acquisition processing, time correction processing and thelike, which will be described later) by which the processor 180 is tocontrol various functions, and various data (for example, dataindicative of a restriction area A1, a determination target area A2,information acquired in information acquisition processing and the like,which will be described later).

The operation unit 160 includes an operation button, a touch panel andthe like, and is an interface which is used for a user to input aninstruction.

The display unit 170 includes a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an ElectroLuminescence (EL) display or the like and is configured to display animage based on image data input from the processor 180.

The processor 180 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Theprocessor 180 is configured to control an entire operation of the smartphone 100 by executing various programs stored in the ROM 150.

Herein, a functional configuration of the processor 180 of the smartphone 100 is described.

The processor 180 is configured to function as a connection processor181, an operation time information acquisition unit 182, a positioninformation acquisition unit 183, a map information receiving processor184, a movement history information acquisition unit 185, a timecorrection unit 186, a connection type determination unit 187, a timerunit 188, and a clock signal generation unit 189.

The connection processor 181 is configured to control connection withthe electronic timepiece 200. This control includes connectionestablishment processing and disconnection processing.

In the connection establishment processing, the connection processor 181is configured to control the near-field wireless communication unit 120based on a scan instruction and to receive an advertisement which istransmitted from the electronic timepiece 200. The connection processor181 having received the advertisement controls the near-field wirelesscommunication unit 120 to transmit a signal indicative of a connectionrequest to the electronic timepiece 200 when connection is required.

The advertisement is notification information by which the electronictimepiece 200 enables the smart phone 100 to recognize the electronictimepiece 200. A user operation for the scan instruction of the smartphone 100 may be, for example, activation of an application for using aservice of the electronic timepiece 200. The scan instruction is notlimited to the user operation and may be periodically made after theapplication is activated.

In the disconnection processing, the connection processor 181 isconfigured to control the near-field wireless communication unit 120 totransmit a disconnection request to the electronic timepiece 200connected thereto. This processing is executed when data communicationwith the connected electronic timepiece 200 is over or when the userperforms a disconnection operation, for example.

The operation time information acquisition unit 182 is configured toacquire operation time information, which indicates time at which theelectronic timepiece 200 receives an information acquisition instructionby the proximity operation. Specifically, the operation time informationacquisition unit 182 is configured to control the near-field wirelesscommunication unit 120 to receive an acquisition instructionnotification transmitted from the electronic timepiece 200. Theoperation time information acquisition unit 182 is configured toacquire, as the operation time information, time at which theacquisition instruction notification is received.

Strictly speaking, the operation time information is informationindicative of time slightly later than time at which the electronictimepiece 200 receives an information acquisition instruction by theproximity operation. However, since a temporal difference therebetweenis small, both are substantially the same.

The position information acquisition unit 183 is configured to acquireposition information which indicates a user position at time based onthe operation time information acquired by the operation timeinformation acquisition unit 182.

Herein, the user position is described. The smart phone 100 isconfigured to perform near-field wireless communication with theelectronic timepiece 200. The user performs proximity operation to theelectronic timepiece 200. Considering this condition, it can be saidthat there is a close positional relation among the smart phone 100, theelectronic timepiece 200 and the user.

For example, at the positional relation, even when a distance apart fromeach other is about 2 m, the distance can be ignored on a map. Aposition of the smart phone 100 is substantially the same as a positionof the user. For this reason, in the first illustrative embodiment, acurrent position of the smart phone 100 is used as the user position.

There are two acquisition methods for acquiring the position informationby the position information acquisition unit 183. In a first acquisitionmethod, the position information acquisition unit 183 is configured tocontrol the communication unit 110 to perform communication with the NTPpool server 20 and to receive an NTP packet from the NTP server 10allotted by the NTP pool server 20. In this case, the positioninformation acquisition unit 183 is configured to acquire, as theposition information, a position (latitude and longitude) indicated bythe received NTP packet.

In a second acquisition method, the position information acquisitionunit 183 is configured to control the satellite radio wave receivingunit 130 to receive a radio wave from the satellite 40. In this case,the position information acquisition unit 183 is configured to calculatea position (latitude and longitude) based on the received radio wave andto acquire the position, as the position information.

In the meantime, in any acquisition method, the position informationacquisition unit 183 is configured to rapidly acquire the positioninformation after the operation time information acquisition unit 182receives the acquisition instruction notification transmitted from theelectronic timepiece 200. This is to reduce an error of the positioninformation, which is caused due to a time difference from time at whichthe proximity operation is performed on the electronic timepiece 200 toacquisition time of the position information.

The map information receiving processor 184 is configured to control thecommunication unit 110 to receive map information, which indicates theposition information acquired from the map information distributionserver 60 by the position information acquisition unit 183. The mapinformation is information for indicating the position information on amap.

In the meantime, some countries apply a restriction on acquiring anddisplaying the position information or acquiring and displaying the mapinformation in some regions such that positions of important facilitiesof governments are not specified due to national security reasons. Forexample, in some cases, it may be illegal for a user to know a currentposition of the user by using the radio wave from the satellite, anetwork or the like at the periphery of the important facilities ofgovernments.

In the below, a country which applies the restriction is referred to as“specific country”. Herein, a relation between a restriction area A1 anda determination target area A2 of the first illustrative embodiment isdescribed with reference to FIG. 4.

In the first illustrative embodiment, an area to which an address of thespecific country is assigned, i.e., an area in the specific country isreferred to as a restriction area A1. The restriction area A1 may beonly some regions for which the specific country applies a restriction.In this case, however, since there are concerns that the communicationterminal will display the position information and the map informationin the restriction area A1 due to a response speed of the communicationterminal, an error of the position information and the like, forexample, it is necessary to secure measures to prevent the same.

Herein, an area for which the processor 180 determines whether theacquired position information is within the restriction area A1 isreferred to as a determination target area A2. As shown in FIG. 4, inthe first illustrative embodiment, the determination target area A2shown with the broken line is set as a rectangular shape in which therestriction area A1 shown with the solid line is inscribed. In themeantime, the determination target area A2 is not limited to therectangular shape and may be an area having a range greater than therestriction area A1. Meanwhile, data indicative of a range of thelatitude and longitude indicating the determination target area A2 andinformation indicative of the specific country, which is the restrictionarea A1, are stored in advance in the ROM 150 by a manufacturer, avendor and the like, for example.

When the processor 180 determines that the acquired position informationis outside the restriction area A1, the map information receivingprocessor 184 receives the map information from the map informationdistribution server 60.

The movement history information acquisition unit 185 is configured toacquire movement history information, based on the plurality of mapinformation received by the map information receiving processor 184 andstored in the ROM 150. The movement history information is informationindicative of a moving path formed by linearly connecting positions,which are indicated on a map by the plurality of map information, in atime-series order.

The time correction unit 186 is configured to acquire the UTC time andto correct time which is measured by the timer unit 188 (describedlater). The time correction unit 186 is configured to control thenear-field wireless communication unit 120 to transmit time measured bythe timer unit 188 to the electronic timepiece 200. As described later,the electronic timepiece 200 is configured to correct time based on thereceived time.

As the acquisition method of the UTC time by the time correction unit186, there are two acquisition methods. In a first acquisition method,the time correction unit 186 is configured to control the communicationunit 110 to perform communication with the NTP pool server 20 and toreceive an NTP packet from the NTP server 10 allotted by the NTP poolserver 20. The time correction unit 186 is configured to acquire timeinformation included in the NTP packet, as the UTC time.

In a second acquisition method, the time correction unit 186 isconfigured to control the satellite radio wave receiving unit 130 toreceive a radio wave from the satellite 40. The time correction unit 186is configured to acquire time information generated from the radio wavereceived from the satellite 40, as the UTC time.

In the meantime, the time correction processing which is executed by thetime correction unit 186 may be executed periodically (for example,every 30 minutes) or at timing based on a user operation.

The connection type determination unit 187 is configured to determinewhat purpose a connection type received from the electronic timepiece200 indicates. The processor 180 is configured to execute controlprocessing thereafter, in correspondence to a determination resultthereof. For example, when a purposed indicated by the connection typeincludes the time correction processing, the connection typedetermination unit 187 transmits time measured by the timer unit 188 tothe electronic timepiece 200. The purpose indicated by the connectiontype includes not only the time correction processing but also a purposefor searching the smart phone 100 and a purpose for performing variousdata communications.

The timer unit 188 is configured to count a number of pulses of a clocksignal, which is generated by the clock signal generation unit 189 andto measure time based on the number of pulses to be counted. Theprocessor 180 is configured to execute various controls at timing basedon the number of pulses counted by the timer unit 188.

The clock signal generation unit 189 is configured to generate a clocksignal of the own device (the smart phone 100). In the meantime, whenperforming clock synchronization in correspondence to a signal receivedfrom the other device, the processor 180 appropriately controls afrequency of the clock signal of the clock signal generation unit 189.

In the above, the configuration of the smart phone 100 according to thefirst illustrative embodiment has been described. Next, a configurationof the electronic timepiece 200 according to the first illustrativeembodiment is described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the electronic timepiece 200 includes acommunication device 270 and a display unit 250. The communicationdevice 270 includes a near-field wireless communication unit 210, a RAM220, a ROM 230, an operation unit 240 and a processor 260. Theconstitutional elements of the communication device 270 and the displayunit 250 are connected to each other via a bus line BL.

The near-field wireless communication unit 210 includes an RF circuit, aBB circuit, an LSI and the like, for example. The near-field wirelesscommunication unit 210 is configured to perform wireless communicationwith the smart phone 100, which is the other wireless communicationdevice, via an antenna 211, based on the BLE.

The RAM 220 includes a volatile memory and is used as a work area fortemporarily storing therein data so as for the processor 260 to executea variety of processing.

The ROM 230 includes a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory andstores therein programs (for example, programs for implementing timecorrection processing, information acquisition processing and the like,which will be described later) by which the processor 260 is to controldiverse functions, and various data.

The operation unit 240 includes an operation button, a touch panel andthe like, and is an interface for receiving a user's operation. Theoperation unit 240 is configured to receive a proximity operation, whichis not a remote operation by an external device but a physical operationsuch as a pushing operation on the operation button and a touchoperation on the touch panel.

The display unit 250 includes an LCD, an EL display or the like and isconfigured to display an image based on image data input from theprocessor 260.

The processor 260 is a processor and includes a CPU. The processor 260is configured to control an entire operation of the electronic timepiece200 by executing various programs stored in the ROM 230.

Herein, a functional configuration of the processor 260 of theelectronic timepiece 200 is described. The processor 260 is configuredto function as a connection processor 261, an acquisition instructionnotification transmitting processor 262, a time correction unit 263, aconnection type notifying processor 264, a timer unit 265, and a clocksignal generation unit 266.

The connection processor 261 is configured to control connection withthe smart phone 100. This control includes connection establishmentprocessing and disconnection processing.

In the connection establishment processing, the connection processor 261is configured to control the near-field wireless communication unit 210to transmit an advertisement to the smart phone 100. The transmission ofthe advertisement is performed at periodic timing in correspondence toprocessing of the program, or at timing at which a user operation isperformed.

After transmitting the advertisement, the connection processor 261 isconfigured to receive a signal indicative of a connection request fromthe smart phone 100 via the near-field wireless communication unit 210and to establish connection with the smart phone 100. Once theconnection is established, data communication with the smart phone 100becomes available.

In the disconnection processing, the connection processor 261 isconfigured to receive a signal indicative of a disconnection requestfrom the smart phone 100 via the near-field wireless communication unit210 and to disconnect the connection with the smart phone 100.

When the user pushes an operation button for executing an informationacquisition instruction on the operation unit 240, the acquisitioninstruction notification transmitting processor 262 controls thenear-field wireless communication unit 210 to transmit an acquisitioninstruction notification to the smart phone 100. The informationacquisition instruction is an instruction by which the user instructsthe electronic timepiece 200 to transmit the acquisition instructionnotification. The acquisition instruction notification is a notificationfor instructing the smart phone 100 to acquire the operation timeinformation.

The time correction unit 263 is configured to receive time transmittedfrom the smart phone 100, via the near-field wireless communication unit210, in time correction processing. The time correction unit 263 isconfigured to correct time, which is measured by the timer unit 265,based on the received time. Accordingly, the electronic timepiece 200keeps a time-synchronized state with the smart phone 100.

The connection type notifying processor 264 is configured to control thenear-field wireless communication unit 210 to notify a connection typeto the smart phone 100.

Herein, the connection type is information indicative of a purpose ofthe electronic timepiece 200 to connect to the smart phone 100. Theconnection type is determined by a content of a user operation to theelectronic timepiece 200.

The timer unit 265 is configured to count a number of pulses of a clocksignal, which is generated by the clock signal generation unit 266 andto measure time based on the number of pulses to be counted. Theprocessor 260 is configured to execute various controls at timing basedon the number of pulses counted by the timer unit 265.

The clock signal generation unit 266 is configured to generate a clocksignal of the own device (the electronic timepiece 200). In themeantime, when performing clock synchronization in correspondence to asignal received from the other device, the processor 260 appropriatelycontrols a frequency of the clock signal of the clock signal generationunit 266.

In the above, the configuration of the electronic timepiece 200according to the first illustrative embodiment has been described. Next,an example of information acquisition processing which is executed bythe smart phone 100 and the electronic timepiece 200 is described withreference to FIG. 5.

The information acquisition processing is executed when the operationbutton for executing the information acquisition instruction is pushedon the operation unit 240 of the electronic timepiece 200.

When the information acquisition processing is executed, connectionestablishment processing for establishing connection between theelectronic timepiece 200 and the smart phone 100 is executed (steps S201and S101). Specifically, the connection processor 261 of the electronictimepiece 200 transmits an advertisement to the smart phone 100, and theconnection processor 181 of the smart phone 100 transmits a signalindicative of a connection request to the electronic timepiece 200, as areply. The connection processor 261 of the electronic timepiece 200receives the signal indicative of a connection request and establishesconnection.

When the connection between the electronic timepiece 200 and the smartphone 100 is established, the acquisition instruction notificationtransmitting processor 262 of the electronic timepiece 200 transmits theacquisition instruction notification to the smart phone 100 (step S202).The operation time information acquisition unit 182 of the smart phone100 receives the acquisition instruction notification transmitted fromthe electronic timepiece 200 (step S102). The operation time informationacquisition unit 182 of the smart phone 100 acquires time at which theacquisition instruction notification is received, as the operation timeinformation.

Herein, disconnection processing of disconnecting the connection betweenthe electronic timepiece 200 and the smart phone 100 is executed (stepsS203 and S103). Specifically, the connection processor 181 of the smartphone 100 transmits a signal indicative of a disconnection request tothe connected electronic timepiece 200, and the connection processor 261of the electronic timepiece 200 disconnects the connection with thesmart phone 100.

The position information acquisition unit 183 of the smart phone 100acquires a current position of the smart phone 100, as the positioninformation indicative of the user position (step S104). The positioninformation acquisition unit 183 of the smart phone 100 may acquire theposition information from the NTP packet received via the communicationunit 110, or may acquire the position information based on the radiowave received from the satellite 40 via the satellite radio wavereceiving unit 130.

Herein, the processor 180 of the smart phone 100 refers to the ROM 150and determines whether the acquired position information is within thedetermination target area A2 (step S105).

When the processor 180 of the smart phone 100 determines that theacquired position information is not within the determination area A2(step S105; No), steps S106 and S107, which will be described later, areskipped, and the processor 180 proceeds to step S108, which will bedescribed later.

On the other hand, when the processor 180 of the smart phone 100determines that the acquired position information is within thedetermination area A2 (step S105; Yes), the processor 180 of the smartphone 100 acquires an address of the position information (step S106).Specifically, the processor 180 of the smart phone 100 controls thecommunication unit 110 to transmit the latitude and longitude of theposition information to the map information distribution server 60. Theprocessor 180 of the smart phone 100 receives an address correspondingto the latitude and longitude of the position information via thecommunication unit 110.

The processor 180 of the smart phone 100 determines whether the acquiredaddress is an address outside the specific country (step S107). Thisdetermination is performed by referring to the information indicatingthe specific country and stored in the ROM 150 by the processor 180 ofthe smart phone 100.

When the processor 180 of the smart phone 100 determines that theacquired address is an address outside the specific country (step S107;Yes), the map information receiving processor 184 of the smart phone 100receives and acquires map information corresponding to the positioninformation from the map information distribution server 60 via thecommunication unit 110 (step S108). In this case, the processor 180 ofthe smart phone 100 stores the map information acquired by the mapinformation receiving processor 184 in the ROM 150 in association withthe time indicated by the operation time information acquired by theoperation time information acquisition unit 182.

On the other hand, when the processor 180 of the smart phone 100determines that the acquired address is inside the specific country(step S107; No), the processor 180 of the smart phone 100 stores theoperation time information acquired by the operation time informationacquisition unit 182 and data, which indicates that the map informationis an acquisition failure, in the ROM 150 (step S109). In the meantime,the processor 180 of the smart phone 100 displays the information storedin the ROM 150 on the display unit 170 in response to the useroperation.

In the above, the example of the information acquisition processingwhich is executed by the smart phone 100 and the electronic timepiece200 has been described. The information acquisition processing isexecuted each time when the operation button for executing theinformation acquisition instruction is pushed on the operation unit 240of the electronic timepiece 200. Therefore, the map information isaccumulated in the ROM 150.

Herein, when the user performs an operation for acquiring the movementhistory information on the operation unit 160 of the smart phone 100,the movement history information acquisition unit 185 of the smart phone100 reads out the plurality of map information stored in the ROM 150 ina time-series manner based on the times indicated by the operation timeinformation and transmits the same to the map information distributionserver 60. The movement history information acquisition unit 185 of thesmart phone 100 acquires the movement history information by causing themap information distribution server 60 to generate the movement historyinformation and receiving the same.

Herein, examples of an image displayed as the map information and animage displayed as the movement history information on the display unit170 of the smart phone 100 are described. Herein, a case where theacquired map information is three map information shown in FIGS. 6A, 6Band 6C is described.

FIG. 6A illustrates first map information and shows a point P1 as firstacquired position information on a map. FIG. 6B illustrates second mapinformation and shows a point P2 as secondarily acquired positioninformation on the map. FIG. 6C illustrates third map information andshows a point P3 as thirdly acquired position information on the map.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, in an image displayed as the movementhistory information, the points P1, P2, P3 are linearly connected inorder of acquired times on a map of a scale in which the points P1, P2,P3 are all displayed. This movement history information is generated bycooperation between the movement history information acquisition unit185 of the smart phone 100 and the map information distribution server60.

As described above, in the communication system 1 according to the firstillustrative embodiment, when the operation button of the electronictimepiece 200 for executing the information acquisition instruction ispushed, the smart phone 100 acquires the map information for indicatingthe position information at that time on the map. In this case, the usercan acquire the map information simply by pushing the operation buttonof the electronic timepiece 200.

Therefore, according to the communication system 1 of the firstillustrative embodiment, the operability for acquiring the mapinformation indicative of the position information on the map can beimproved. In particular, since the operation of pushing the operationbutton of the electronic timepiece 200 is an operation which can beperformed in a short time, the map information can be acquired at user'sintended timing.

Also, the acquired plurality of map information are respectively storedwith being associated with the operation time information in the ROM150. Therefore, the movement history information can be acquired fromthe acquired plurality of map information. Particularly, even when theuser is moving, the movement history information is quickly generated atuser's intended timing based on the acquired position information.Therefore, an error can be reduced that the position information isincorrect due to the delay associated with the operation time.

The map information is acquired only when the position information isoutside the restriction area A1 to which the address of the specificcountry is assigned. The map information and the position informationare displayed on the display unit 170 of the smart phone 100 only whenthe position information is outside the restriction area A1 to which theaddress of the specific country is assigned. Therefore, the user can usethe communication system 1 without concerns about the restrictions onthe acquisition, display and the like of the map information and theposition information in the specific country. Accordingly, theconvenience is improved.

Also, the processing of determining whether the position information isoutside the restriction area A1 is executed only when the positioninformation is within the determination target area A2 which is aperipheral area of the restriction area A1. Therefore, an amount ofcommunication processing can be suppressed as compared to aconfiguration where the determination processing is always performed.

Second Illustrative Embodiment

A communication system according to the second illustrative embodimentincludes a smart phone 300 which is a wireless communication device, andan electronic timepiece 400 which is a wireless communication devicedifferent from the smart phone 300.

The communication system according to the second illustrative embodimentis used in the substantially similar manner to the first illustrativeembodiment. In the using manner of the communication system according tothe second illustrative embodiment, the smart phone 100 of FIG. 1 ischanged to the smart phone 300, and the electronic timepiece 200 ischanged to the electronic timepiece 400. The others are the same as thefirst illustrative embodiment. In below descriptions, the constitutionalelements common to those of the first illustrative embodiment aredenoted with the same reference numerals.

In the below, the smart phone 300 according to the second illustrativeembodiment is described. As shown in FIG. 8, the smart phone 300includes a communication device 390 and the display unit 170. Thecommunication device 390 includes the communication unit 110, thenear-field wireless communication unit 120, the satellite radio wavereceiving unit 130, the RAM 140, the ROM 150, the operation unit 160 anda processor 380. The constitutional elements of the communication device390 and the display unit 170 are connected to each other via the busline BL.

The smart phone 300 is different from the smart phone 100 of the firstillustrative embodiment in that it includes the processor 380, insteadof the processor 180. The other configurations are the same as the smartphone 100. Further, in the second illustrative embodiment, the ROM 150does not store therein the data indicative of the restriction area A1and the determination target area A2. Instead, in the secondillustrative embodiment, the ROM 150 stores therein a program forimplementing point list generation processing, which will be describedlater, and a point list.

The processor 380 is a processor and includes a CPU. The processor 380is configured to control an entire operation of the smart phone 300 byexecuting various programs stored in the ROM 150. In the below, afunctional configuration of the processor 380 of the smart phone 300 isdescribed.

The processor 380 is configured to function as the connection processor181, an operation time information acquisition unit 382, a currentposition information acquisition unit 383, a position informationacquisition unit 384, the map information receiving processor 184, themovement history information acquisition unit 185, the time correctionunit 186, the connection type determination unit 187, the timer unit188, and the clock signal generation unit 189.

The operation time information acquisition unit 382 is configured toacquire operation time information transmitted from the electronictimepiece 400. Specifically, the operation time information acquisitionunit 382 is configured to control the near-field wireless communicationunit 120 to receive operation time information transmitted from theelectronic timepiece 400. As described later, the operation timeinformation is information indicative of time at which the informationacquisition instruction by the proximate operation is received and whichis stored in the ROM 230 by the electronic timepiece 400.

The current position acquisition unit 383 is configured to periodicallyacquire a current position of the smart phone 300. The current positionacquired by the current position acquisition unit 383 is stored withbeing associated with acquisition time thereof in the ROM 150, as apoint list. The point list is data in which the current positionacquired by the smart phone 300 is stored to be readable in atime-series manner.

There are two acquisition methods for acquiring the current position bythe current position acquisition unit 383. In a first acquisitionmethod, the current position acquisition unit 383 is configured tocontrol the communication unit 110 to perform communication with the NTPpool server 20 and to receive the NTP packet from the NTP server 10allotted by the NTP pool server 20. In this case, the current positionacquisition unit 383 is configured to acquire a position (latitude andlongitude) indicated by the received NTP packet, as the currentposition.

In a second acquisition method, the current position acquisition unit383 is configured to control the satellite radio wave receiving unit 130to receive the radio wave from the satellite 40. In this case, thecurrent position acquisition unit 383 is configured to calculate aposition (latitude and longitude) based on the received radio wave andto acquire the position, as the current position.

The position information acquisition unit 384 is configured to acquirethe position information indicative of a position at time based on theoperation time information acquired by the operation time informationacquisition unit 382.

Specifically, the position information acquisition unit 384 isconfigured to refer to the point list stored in the ROM 150 and toacquire, as the position information, a current position associated withthe acquisition time, which is closest to the time indicated by theoperation time information, of the plurality of current positionsincluded in the point list.

In the above, the configuration of the smart phone 300 according to thesecond illustrative embodiment has been described. Next, a configurationof the electronic timepiece 400 according to the second illustrativeembodiment is described.

As shown in FIG. 9, the electronic timepiece 400 includes acommunication device 470 and the display unit 250. The communicationdevice 470 includes the near-field wireless communication unit 210, theRAM 220, the ROM 230, the operation unit 240 and a processor 460. Theconstitutional elements of the communication device 470 and the displayunit 250 are connected to each other via the bus line BL.

The electronic timepiece 400 is different from the electronic timepiece200 of the first illustrative embodiment in that it includes theprocessor 460, instead of the processor 260. The other configurationsare the same as the electronic timepiece 200.

In the second illustrative embodiment, as described later, the ROM 230also stores the operation time information which indicates time at whicha pushing operation is received, each time when the user pushes theoperation button for executing the information acquisition instructionon the operation unit 240 of the electronic timepiece 400. Therefore,when the operation button for executing the information acquisitioninstruction is repetitively pushed, the plurality of operation timeinformation are accumulated in the ROM 230.

The processor 460 is a processor and includes a CPU. The processor 460is configured to control an entire operation of the electronic timepiece400 by executing various programs stored in the ROM 230.

Herein, a functional configuration of the processor 460 of theelectronic timepiece 400 is described. The processor 460 is configuredto function as the connection processor 261, an operation timeinformation transmitting processor 462, the time correction unit 263,the connection type notifying processor 264, the timer unit 265 and theclock signal generation unit 266.

When the user executes an operation for transmitting the operation timeinformation on the operation unit 240, the operation time informationtransmitting processor 462 controls the near-field wirelesscommunication unit 210 to transmit the operation time information storedin the ROM 230 to the smart phone 300.

In the above, the configuration of the electronic timepiece 400according to the second illustrative embodiment has been described.Next, an example of point list generation processing which is executedby the smart phone 300 is described with reference to FIG. 10. Thisprocessing is periodically and repetitively executed by the processor380 of the smart phone 300.

First, when the point list generation processing is executed, thecurrent position acquisition unit 383 of the smart phone 300 acquires acurrent position of the smart phone 300 (step S301). The currentposition acquisition unit 383 may acquire the current position from theNTP packet received via the communication unit 110, or may acquire thecurrent position based on the radio wave received from the satellite 40via the satellite radio wave receiving unit 130.

The current position acquisition unit 383 stores the acquired currentposition in association with the acquisition time thereof (step S302).Specifically, the current position acquisition unit 383 updates thepoint list stored in the ROM 150 by adding the acquired current positionand the acquisition time thereof to the point list.

In the above, the example of the point list generation processing whichis executed by the smart phone 300 has been described. Since the pointlist generation processing is periodically and repetitively executed,the acquired current position and the acquisition time thereof areaccumulated in the point list of the ROM 150 over time.

In the below, an example of information acquisition processing which isexecuted by the smart phone 300 and the electronic timepiece 400 isdescribed with reference to FIG. 10. The information acquisitionprocessing is executed when the user performs an operation fortransmitting the operation time information stored in the ROM 230 of theelectronic timepiece 400 to the smart phone 300 on the operation unit240 of the electronic timepiece 400. The information acquisitionprocessing may be periodically executed by the processor 460 of theelectronic timepiece 400.

When the information acquisition processing is executed, connectionestablishment processing of establishing connection between theelectronic timepiece 400 and the smart phone 300 is first executed(steps S401 and S501). This connection establishment processing is thesame as the first illustrative embodiment.

When the connection between the electronic timepiece 400 and the smartphone 300 is established, the operation time information transmittingprocessor 462 of the electronic timepiece 400 transmits the operationtime information stored in the ROM 230 to the smart phone 300 via thenear-field wireless communication unit 210 (step S402). When a pluralityof the operation time information are stored in the ROM 230, they areall transmitted. The operation time information transmitting processor462 of the electronic timepiece 400 deletes the transmitted operationtime information from the operation time information stored in the ROM230.

The operation time information acquisition unit 382 of the smart phone300 receives the operation time information transmitted from theelectronic timepiece 400, via the near-field wireless communication unit120 (step S502). Thereby, the operation time information acquisitionunit 382 of the smart phone 300 receives the operation time information.

Herein, disconnection processing of disconnecting the connection betweenthe electronic timepiece 400 and the smart phone 300 is executed (stepsS403 and S503). This disconnection processing is the same as the firstillustrative embodiment.

The position information acquisition unit 384 of the smart phone 300acquires, as the position information, a current position associatedwith the acquisition time, which is closest to the time indicated by theoperation time information received from the electronic timepiece 400,from the point list stored in the ROM 150 (step S504). When theplurality of operation time information are received from the electronictimepiece 400, the position information acquisition unit 384 acquiresthe plurality of position information corresponding to the plurality ofoperation time information.

Subsequently, the map information receiving processor 184 of the smartphone 300 receives and acquires the map information corresponding to theposition information acquired by the position information acquisitionunit 384, from the map information distribution server 60, via thecommunication unit 110 (step S505). When the position informationacquisition unit 384 acquires the plurality of position information, themap information receiving processor 184 acquires the plurality of mapinformation corresponding to the plurality of position information.

The processor 380 of the smart phone 300 stores the map informationacquired by the map information receiving processor 184, in the ROM 150in association with the time indicated by the operation time informationacquired by the operation time information acquisition unit 382. Themovement history information acquisition unit 185 of the smart phone 300acquires the movement history information based on the plurality of mapinformation stored in the ROM 150, similarly to the first illustrativeembodiment.

As described above, in the second illustrative embodiment, theelectronic timepiece 400 stores the time at which the operation buttonfor executing the information acquisition instruction is pushed, in theROM 230, as the operation time information. When the connection cannotbe established between the electronic timepiece 400 and the smart phone300, the electronic timepiece 400 cannot transmit the operation timeinformation to the smart phone 300. However, after becoming a statewhere the connection can be established, the electronic timepiece 400can transmit the operation time information stored in the ROM 230 to thesmart phone 300.

In the second illustrative embodiment, the operation time informationindicates the time at which the operation button for executing theinformation acquisition instruction is pushed on the operation unit 240of the electronic timepiece 400. The smart phone 300 acquires, as theposition information, the current position of the smart phone 300associated with the acquisition time, which is closest to the timeindicated by the operation time information, from the point list.Accordingly, the position information and the map information can beacquired at timing close to the time at which the operation button forexecuting the information acquisition instruction is pushed on theoperation unit 240 of the electronic timepiece 400.

Third Illustrative Embodiment

A communication system according to the third illustrative embodimentincludes a smart phone 500 which is a wireless communication device, andan electronic timepiece 600 which is a wireless communication devicedifferent from the smart phone 500.

The communication system according to the third illustrative embodimentis used in the substantially similar manner to the first illustrativeembodiment. In the using manner of the communication system according tothe third illustrative embodiment, the smart phone 100 of FIG. 1 ischanged to the smart phone 500, and the electronic timepiece 200 ischanged to the electronic timepiece 600. The others are the same as thefirst illustrative embodiment. In below descriptions, the constitutionalelements common to those of the first illustrative embodiment aredenoted with the same reference numerals.

In the below, the smart phone 500 according to the third illustrativeembodiment is described. As shown in FIG. 12, the smart phone 500includes a communication device 590 and the display unit 170. Thecommunication device 590 includes the communication unit 110, thenear-field wireless communication unit 120, the satellite radio wavereceiving unit 130, the RAM 140, the ROM 150, the operation unit 160 anda processor 580. The constitutional elements of the communication device590 and the display unit 170 are connected to each other via the busline BL.

The smart phone 500 is different from the smart phone 100 of the firstillustrative embodiment in that it includes the processor 580, insteadof the processor 180. The other configurations are the same as the smartphone 100.

In the third illustrative embodiment, the ROM 150 does not store thereinthe data indicative of the restriction area A1 and the determinationtarget area A2, similarly to the second illustrative embodiment. Also,in the third illustrative embodiment, the ROM 150 stores therein theprogram for implementing the point list generation processing and thepoint list, similarly to the second illustrative embodiment. That is,the smart phone 500 is configured to execute the point list generationprocessing shown in FIG. 10, similarly to the smart phone 300 of thesecond illustrative embodiment.

The processor 580 is a processor and includes a CPU. The processor 580is configured to control an entire operation of the smart phone 500 byexecuting various programs stored in the ROM 150. In the below, afunctional configuration of the processor 580 of the smart phone 500 isdescribed.

The processor 580 is configured to function as the connection processor181, an operation time information acquisition unit 582, the currentposition acquisition unit 383, a position information acquisition unit584, the map information receiving processor 184, a sensor informationacquisition unit 585, a movement history information acquisition unit586, the time correction unit 186, the connection type determinationunit 187, the timer unit 188, and the clock signal generation unit 189.

The operation time information acquisition unit 582 is configured toacquire the operation time information transmitted from the electronictimepiece 600. Specifically, the operation time information acquisitionunit 582 is configured to control the near-field wireless communicationunit 120 to receive the operation time information transmitted from theelectronic timepiece 600. This operation time information is informationindicative of time at which the information acquisition instruction bythe proximate operation is received and which is stored in the ROM 230by the electronic timepiece 600, similarly to the second illustrativeembodiment.

The position information acquisition unit 584 is configured to acquirethe position information indicative of a position at time based on theoperation time information acquired by the operation time informationacquisition unit 582.

Specifically, the position information acquisition unit 584 isconfigured to determine whether the information indicative of a positionof the electronic timepiece 600 is included in acquisition informationreceived from the electronic timepiece 600 via the near-field wirelesscommunication unit 120. In the meantime, the acquisition informationwill be described later.

When the information indicative of a position of the electronictimepiece 600 is included in the acquisition information received fromthe electronic timepiece 600, the position information acquisition unit584 acquires the information indicative of a position of the electronictimepiece 600, as the position information.

When the information indicative of a position of the electronictimepiece 600 is not included in the acquisition information receivedfrom the electronic timepiece 600, the position information acquisitionunit 584 refers to the point list stored in the ROM 150, and acquires,as the position information, the current position associated with theacquisition time, which is closest to the time indicated by theoperation time information, of the plurality of current positionsincluded in the point list.

When sensor information is included in the acquisition informationreceived from the electronic timepiece 600 via the near-field wirelesscommunication unit 120, the sensor information acquisition unit 585acquires the sensor information, which will be described later.

The movement history information acquisition unit 586 is configured toacquire the movement history information based on the plurality of mapinformation stored in the ROM 150 by the map information receivingprocessor 184. The acquisition method of the movement historyinformation by the movement history information acquisition unit 586 issubstantially the same as the first illustrative embodiment and thesecond illustrative embodiment. However, when there is the sensorinformation corresponding to each time of the plurality of mapinformation, the movement history information which is acquired by themovement history information acquisition unit 586 is information inwhich the sensor information and the plurality of map information areassociated with each other.

In the above, the configuration of the smart phone 500 according to thethird illustrative embodiment has been described. Next, a configurationof the electronic timepiece 600 according to the third illustrativeembodiment is described.

As shown in FIG. 13, the electronic timepiece 600 includes acommunication device 670, the display unit 250 and a sensor 650. Thecommunication device 670 includes the near-field wireless communicationunit 210, a satellite radio wave receiving unit 610, the RAM 220, theROM 230, the operation unit 240, and a processor 660. The constitutionalelements of the communication device 670, the display unit 250 and thesensor 650 are connected to each other via the bus line BL.

The electronic timepiece 600 is different from the electronic timepiece200 of the first illustrative embodiment in that it includes theprocessor 660, instead of the processor 260. Also, the electronictimepiece 600 is different from the electronic timepiece 200 of thefirst illustrative embodiment in that it includes the satellite radiowave receiving unit 610 and the sensor 650, which are not provided tothe electronic timepiece 200. The other configurations are the same asthe electronic timepiece 200.

In the third illustrative embodiment, similarly to the secondillustrative embodiment, the ROM 230 also stores the operation timeinformation, which indicates time at which a pushing operation isreceived, each time when the user pushes the operation button forexecuting the information acquisition instruction on the operation unit240 of the electronic timepiece 600. Therefore, when the operationbutton for executing the information acquisition instruction isrepetitively pushed, the plurality of operation time information areaccumulated in the ROM 230.

The satellite radio wave receiving unit 610 includes a radio frequencycircuit, a base band circuit, an LSI and the like, for example. Thesatellite radio wave receiving unit 610 is configured to receive a radiowave from the satellite 40 via an antenna 611.

The sensor 650 is a sensor configured to detect a temperature, anatmosphere, an altitude, a speed and the like, for example. Herein, anexample where the sensor 650 is a temperature sensor is described. It isnoted that the sensor 650 may be a plurality of sensors.

The processor 660 is a processor and includes a CPU. The processor 660is configured to control an entire operation of the electronic timepiece600 by executing various programs stored in the ROM 230.

Herein, a functional configuration of the processor 660 of theelectronic timepiece 600 is described. The processor 660 is configuredto function as the connection processor 261, an acquisition informationtransmitting processor 662, an information acquisition unit 663, thetime correction unit 263, the connection type notifying processor 264,the timer unit 265, and the clock signal generation unit 266.

When the user executes an operation for transmitting the acquisitioninformation on the operation unit 240, the acquisition informationtransmitting processor 662 controls the near-field wirelesscommunication unit 210 to transmit the acquisition information stored inthe ROM 230 to the smart phone 500.

The information acquisition unit 663 is configured to acquireinformation indicative of a current position of the electronic timepiece600, sensor information, which is measured data of the sensor 650, andoperation time information indicative of time at which the operationbutton for executing the information acquisition instruction is pushed.

The information acquisition unit 663 is configured to control thesatellite radio wave receiving unit 610 to receive the radio wave fromthe satellite 40. The information acquisition unit 663 is configured tocalculate a position (latitude and longitude) based on the receivedradio wave and to acquire the position, as the information indicative ofa current position of the electronic timepiece 600. When the operationbutton for executing the information acquisition instruction is pushed,the information acquisition unit 663 acquires the sensor information atthat time and the information indicative of the current position of theelectronic timepiece 600. The information acquisition unit 663 storesthe acquired sensor information and information indicative of thecurrent position of the electronic timepiece 600 in the ROM 230 inassociation with the operation time information indicative of the timeat that time.

Herein, the acquisition information is information acquired by theinformation acquisition unit 663. The acquisition information includesthe operation time information, the sensor information, and theinformation indicative of the current position of the electronictimepiece 600. However, the sensor information and the informationindicative of the current position of the electronic timepiece 600 arenot included in the acquisition information when the informationacquisition unit 663 cannot acquire the same. For example, upon pushingof the operation button for executing the information acquisitioninstruction on the operation unit 240 of the electronic timepiece 600,when the functions of the sensor 650 and the satellite radio wavereceiving unit 610 are stopped, when the satellite radio wave receivingunit 610 cannot receive the radio wave from the satellite 40, and thelike, the acquisition information includes only the operation timeinformation.

In the above, the configuration of the electronic timepiece 600according to the third illustrative embodiment has been described. Next,an example of the information acquisition processing which is executedby the smart phone 500 and the electronic timepiece 600 is describedwith reference to FIG. 14.

The information acquisition processing is executed when the userperforms an operation for transmitting the operation time informationstored in the ROM 230 of the electronic timepiece 600 to the smart phone500 on the operation unit 240 of the electronic timepiece 600. Theinformation acquisition processing may be periodically executed by theprocessor 660 of the electronic timepiece 600.

When the information acquisition processing is executed, connectionestablishment processing of establishing connection between theelectronic timepiece 600 and the smart phone 500 is first executed(steps S701 and S601). This connection establishment processing is thesame as the first illustrative embodiment.

When the connection between the electronic timepiece 600 and the smartphone 500 is established, the operation time information transmittingprocessor 662 of the electronic timepiece 600 transmits the acquisitioninformation stored in the ROM 230 to the smart phone 500 via thenear-field wireless communication unit 210 (step S702). When a pluralityof the acquisition information are stored in the ROM 230, they are alltransmitted. Also, the operation time information transmitting processor662 of the electronic timepiece 600 deletes the transmitted acquisitioninformation from the acquisition information stored in the ROM 230.

The processor 580 of the smart phone 500 receives the acquisitioninformation transmitted from the electronic timepiece 600, via thenear-field wireless communication unit 120 (step S602). The operationtime information acquisition unit 582 of the smart phone 500 acquiresthe operation time information included in the received acquisitioninformation. When the sensor information is included in the receivedacquisition information, the sensor information acquisition unit 585 ofthe smart phone 500 acquires the sensor information.

Herein, disconnection processing of disconnecting the connection betweenthe electronic timepiece 600 and the smart phone 500 is executed (stepsS403 and S503). This disconnection processing is the same as the firstillustrative embodiment.

Then, the position information acquisition unit 584 of the smart phone500 determines whether the information indicative of a position of theelectronic timepiece 600 is included in the acquisition informationreceived from the electronic timepiece 600 via the near-field wirelesscommunication unit 120 (step S604). The acquisition information will bedescribed later.

When it is determined that the information indicative of a position ofthe electronic timepiece 600 is included in the acquisition informationreceived from the electronic timepiece 600 (step S604; Yes), theposition information acquisition unit 584 acquires, as the positioninformation, the information indicative of a position of the electronictimepiece 600 and included in the acquisition information (step S605).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the information indicativeof a position of the electronic timepiece 600 is not included in theacquisition information received from the electronic timepiece 600 (stepS604; No), the position information acquisition unit 584 refers to thepoint list stored in the ROM 150, and acquires, as the positioninformation, the current position associated with the acquisition time,which is closest to the time indicated by the operation timeinformation, of the plurality of current positions included in the pointlist (step S606).

In the meantime, when a plurality of acquisition information arereceived from the electronic timepiece 600, the position informationacquisition unit 584 acquires the plurality of position informationcorresponding to the plurality of operation time information included inthe plurality of acquisition information.

Subsequently, the map information receiving processor 184 of the smartphone 500 receives and acquires the map information corresponding to theposition information acquired by the position information acquisitionunit 584, from the map information distribution server 60, via thecommunication unit 110 (step S607). When the position informationacquisition unit 584 acquires the plurality of position information, themap information receiving processor 184 acquires the plurality of mapinformation corresponding to the plurality of position information.

The processor 580 of the smart phone 500 stores the map informationacquired by the map information receiving processor 184, in the ROM 150in association with the time indicated by the operation time informationacquired by the operation time information acquisition unit 582. Whenthe sensor information is included in the acquisition information, theprocessor 580 of the smart phone 500 further stores the sensorinformation acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit 585, inthe ROM 150 in association with the map information and the timeindicated by the operation time information.

The movement history information acquisition unit 586 of the smart phone500 acquires the movement history information based on the plurality ofmap information stored in the ROM 150, similarly to the first and secondillustrative embodiments. When there is the sensor informationassociated with the plurality of map information, the information isalso associated with the movement history information.

As described above, in the third illustrative embodiment, the smartphone 500 can acquire the map information with which the sensorinformation acquired by the electronic timepiece 600 is also associated.Also, the electronic timepiece 600 acquires the position of theelectronic timepiece 600 at time at which the operation button forexecuting the information acquisition instruction is pushed. In thiscase, since the smart phone 500 acquires the map information based onthe position acquired by the electronic timepiece 600, the mapinformation can be acquired at user's intended timing more correctlythan the first illustrative embodiment.

Although the illustrative embodiments have been described, theillustrative embodiments are merely exemplary. Accordingly, the specificconfigurations and processing of the smart phones 100, 300, 500 and theelectronic timepieces 200, 400, 600 are not limited to the illustrativeembodiments. In the below, modified embodiments of the illustrativeembodiments are described.

Modified Embodiments

In the illustrative embodiments, as the wireless communication deviceand the other wireless communication device, the smart phones 100, 300,500 and the electronic timepieces 200, 400, 600 have been exemplified.However, the wireless communication device and the other wirelesscommunication device are not limited to the smart phone and theelectronic timepiece.

For example, a portable terminal having a wireless communicationfunction based on the BLE such as a portable phone, a smart phone, atablet-type personal computer, a note-type personal computer and thelike may also be used. As the wireless communication device which isused instead of the electronic timepiece, a small device which can becarried and operated by a user such as a wearable computer is preferableso as to secure the high operability.

In the illustrative embodiments, the smart phones 100, 300, 500 areconfigured such that the processors 180, 380, 580 function as the timerunit 188 and the clock signal generation unit 189, and the electronictimepieces 200, 400, 600 are configured such that the processors 260,460, 660 function as the timer unit 265 and the clock signal generationunit 266. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

For example, the timer units 188, 265 and the clock signal generationunits 189, 266 may be configured as Real Time Clock (RTC) modulesseparate from the processors 180,380,580,260,460,660. The RTC module mayinclude a counter circuit configured to count the number of pulses ofthe clock signal of the own device, a crystal oscillator configured togenerate a reference clock, a variable Phase Locked Loop (PLL)configured to generate a clock signal having a desired frequency fromthe reference clock, or the like.

The constitutional elements of the first illustrative embodiment, thesecond illustrative embodiment and the third illustrative embodiment canbe appropriately combined as long as the contradiction does not occur.For example, in the second illustrative embodiment or the thirdillustrative embodiment, the smart phones 300, 500 and the electronictimepieces 400, 600 may be configured to acquire the map informationonly when they are located outside the restriction area A1, similarly tothe first illustrative embodiment.

In the third illustrative embodiment, the electronic timepiece 600includes the sensor 650. However, the smart phone 500 may include asensor and may be configured to acquire the sensor information at timeindicated by the operation time information.

In the illustrative embodiments, the smart phones 100, 300, 500 and theelectronic timepieces 200, 400, 500 are configured to store the acquireddata in the ROM 150 and the ROM 230. However, the present disclosure isnot limited thereto. The acquired data may be stored in the RAM 140 andthe RAM 220, not in the ROM 150 and the ROM 230. That is, the storingdestination may be any storage device such as the RAM, the ROM and thelike.

In the illustrative embodiments, the functional configuration of theprocessors 180, 260, 380, 460, 580, 660 may be a single processor, as inthe third illustrative embodiment, or may be a plurality of processors.

In the illustrative embodiments, the wireless communication devicesconfigured to perform wireless communication based on the BLE have beenexemplified. However, the present disclosure is not limited to thewireless communication device configured to perform wirelesscommunication based on the BLE. For example, the present disclosure mayalso be applied to a wireless communication device configured to performwireless communication based on Wi-Fi (registered trademark), ZigBee(registered trademark) or the like.

Also, the wireless communication device of the present disclosure may beconfigured such that a computer executes a program to implement thefunctions of the smart phones 100, 300, 500 and the electronictimepieces 200, 400, 600, irrespective of the wireless communicationdevice. The program may be stored in a computer-readable recordingmedium such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory, a Compact Disc-ReadOnly Memory (CD-ROM), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a Hard Disc Drive(HDD) and the like, or may be downloaded to the computer via a network.

In the illustrative embodiments, the smart phones 100, 300, 500 areconfigured to acquire the time information from the NTP server 10.However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The smart phone100 may be configured to acquire the time information from a time serverprescribed by the other protocol, such as an Simple Network TimeProtocol (SNTP) server, for example.

In the illustrative embodiments, the map information receiving processor184 is configured to receive the map information via the communicationunit 110. However, the map information receiving processor 184 may bechanged to the map information acquisition unit. The map informationacquisition unit may be configured to generate and acquire the mapinformation based on image data stored in the ROM 150 and data receivedvia the communication unit 110, for example.

Also, in the illustrative embodiments, as long as there is no technicalcontradiction, “acquisition” may be an operation of acquiring datareceived from an external device or other constitutional element or maybe an operation of acquiring data generated based on data received froman external device or other constitutional element. For example, theposition information acquisition units 183, 384, 584 may be configuredto acquire, as the position information, data received via thecommunication unit 110, or may be configured to acquire, as the positioninformation, data calculated or generated based on data received via thecommunication unit 110.

Although the illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure havebeen described, the present disclosure is not limited to the specificillustrative embodiments, and includes the inventions defined in theclaims and equivalents thereto.

1. An information acquisition method of a wireless communication deviceincluding a receiver configured to perform wireless communication withanother wireless communication device to acquire information, theinformation acquisition method comprising: an operation time informationacquisition step of acquiring operation time information indicative oftime at which the other wireless communication device receives aninformation acquisition instruction by an operation; a positioninformation acquisition step of acquiring position informationindicative of a user position at time based on the operation timeinformation acquired in the operation time information acquisition step;and a map information acquisition step of acquiring map information forindicating, on a map, the position information acquired in the positioninformation acquisition step.
 2. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device furtherincludes a storage unit, the information acquisition method furthercomprising: a map storing step of storing the map information acquiredin the map information acquisition step in the storage unit inassociation with time based on the operation time information acquiredin the operation time information acquisition step; and a movementhistory information acquisition step of acquiring movement historyinformation based on a plurality of the map information stored in themap storing step.
 3. The information acquisition method according toclaim 1, wherein the position information acquisition step acquires asthe position information, a current position of the wirelesscommunication device when the operation time information is acquired inthe operation time information acquisition step.
 4. The informationacquisition method according to claim 2, wherein the positioninformation acquisition step acquires as the position information, acurrent position of the wireless communication device when the operationtime information is acquired in the operation time informationacquisition step.
 5. The information acquisition method according toclaim 1, wherein the wireless communication device further includes astorage unit, the information acquisition method further comprising: acurrent position acquisition step of periodically acquiring a currentposition of the wireless communication device; and a position storingstep of storing the current position acquired in the current positionacquisition step in the storage unit in association with acquisitiontime, wherein the position information acquisition step acquires as theposition information the current position associated with acquisitiontime, which is closest to time indicated by the operation timeinformation, of a plurality of the current positions stored in theposition storing step and the current position acquisition step whichare periodically repeated.
 6. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the position information acquisition stepcontrols the receiver to receive information indicative of a position ofthe other wireless communication device transmitted from the otherwireless communication device and acquires as the position informationthe received information indicative of the position of the otherwireless communication device.
 7. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 2, wherein the position information acquisition stepcontrols the receiver to receive information indicative of a position ofthe other wireless communication device transmitted from the otherwireless communication device and acquires as the position informationthe received information indicative of the position of the otherwireless communication device.
 8. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a sensor informationacquisition step of acquiring sensor information at time based on theoperation time information.
 9. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 2, further comprising: a sensor informationacquisition step of acquiring sensor information at time based on theoperation time information.
 10. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 3, further comprising: a sensor informationacquisition step of acquiring sensor information at time based on theoperation time information.
 11. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 4, further comprising: a sensor informationacquisition step of acquiring sensor information at time based on theoperation time information.
 12. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 5, further comprising: a sensor informationacquisition step of acquiring sensor information at time based on theoperation time information.
 13. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 6, further comprising: a sensor informationacquisition step of acquiring sensor information at time based on theoperation time information.
 14. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 7, further comprising: a sensor informationacquisition step of acquiring sensor information at time based on theoperation time information.
 15. The information acquisition methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device furtherincludes a display unit, the information acquisition method furthercomprising: a display step of displaying, on the display unit, theposition information and the map information acquired in the mapinformation acquisition step when the position information acquired inthe position information acquisition step is outside a predeterminedrestriction area.
 16. A wireless communication device comprising: areceiver that performs wireless communication with another wirelesscommunication device; and a processor that: acquires operation timeinformation transmitted from the other wireless communication device andindicative of time at which the other wireless communication devicereceives an information acquisition instruction by an operation;acquires position information indicative of a user position at timebased on the acquired operation time information; and acquires mapinformation for indicating, on a map, the acquired position information.17. An electronic timepiece comprising: a transmitter that performswireless communication with another wireless communication device; anoperation unit that receives an information acquisition instruction byan operation; and a processor that controls the transmitter to cause theother wireless communication device to acquire operation timeinformation indicative of time at which the information acquisitioninstruction is received.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readablerecording medium having a program recorded therein, the program readableby a computer of a wireless communication device including a receiverconfigured to perform wireless communication another wirelesscommunication device, the program, when executed by the computer,causing the computer to function as: an operation time informationreceiving unit which controls the receiver to acquire operation timeinformation indicative of time at which the other wireless communicationdevice receives an information acquisition instruction by an operation;a position information acquisition unit which acquires positioninformation indicative of a user position at time based on the operationtime information acquired by the receiver, and a map informationreceiving unit which controls the receiver to receive map informationfor indicating, on a map, the position information acquired by theposition information acquisition unit.